The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

Petition urges Wellesley schools to adopt a hybrid, in-school model for September

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Wellesley Middle School
Wellesley Middle School

An online petition has been circulating among Wellesley Public Schools families asking for signatures of support in exhorting the WPS administration to adopt a hybrid, in-person learning  model for the fall. The goal: to get the town’s 1,500+  K-12 students and their teachers back into the classroom in September.

The petitioners start out by saying, “We implore WPS teachers to get back into the classroom at the start of school in September. Wellesley students’ education has been waylaid since March 13th, and every delay creates a wider and wider gap in their core and fundamental learning. We have seen the concerns about returning to school put forth by our teachers through Wellesley Educators Association. While we share the goals of safety and optimal learning approaches for our students, we strongly believe this can be accomplished in a hybrid back-to-school model. Fortunately, much has been learned about safety and health protocols with Massachusetts leading the charge, and we find ourselves in a strong position to move forward with school in the classrooms beginning in September. Wellesley parents believe this is the best approach for our students and our town.”

From there petitioners, who identify as Wellesley Public School Parents & Families, lay out their beliefs in the efficacy of a hybrid model; what they say is the need for students to have direct interaction teachers and peers; and their recognition that things may change at any time.

The petition has over 400 signatures.

The Wellesley Educator’s Association last month in a letter to the editors of The Swellesley Report agrees that a hybrid model is the way to go. However the Association maintains that the best approach is to start school in a remote setting and transition to a hybrid model after staff training, safety, and needs assessments.

Upcoming big dates:

  • August 6: WPS administration to present to School Committee three models: full in-person, hybrid, and full remote learning
  • August 10: Final draft of WPS SY20-21 reopening plans due to Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
  • August 13: WPS SY20-21 reopening plan shared with the community
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Wellesley High School Class of 2020 graduation ceremony in full

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Wellesley High Principal Jamie Chisum greets grads

 

About 200 Wellesley High School graduates took part in a scaled down but still rewarding ceremony on Friday morning to celebrate the Class of 2020’s launch to the future. The entire ceremony, clocking in at a bit over an hour and a half, can be viewed in the video embedded below.

Having been through two WHS graduations for our own kids at the field, sandwiched in the bleachers with other proud families, this event was clearly a whole different ballgame. It was eerily quiet at the start, with a couple of people jogging around the track and running up and down the bleachers shortly before festivities began, as if nothing was going on. A couple of students gussied up a Congratulations Seniors sign on one of the uprights, hustling to remove a ladder before the procession began. Then students filed in as Pomp & Circumstance played over the loudspeakers.

Andrew Pini, class vice president, kicked off the event by singing the National Anthem after the red-gowned students made their way to socially distanced seats on either side of mid-field, with their backs to the bleachers. In other years, students face the aforementioned upright, toward the school.

andrew pini sings
Andrew Pini, singing the National Anthem (Photo credit: Stephen Keep/SWKphoto)

 

Class President Ryan Silverstein recalled before his fellow “seniors or whatever we are” how no one suspected March 12 would be their last day of high school. He cited the book Lord of the Flies in making observations about the lack of adults at the event and the negative or positive impact adults can have on younger people. He urged his classmates to be catalysts.

“When you feel abandoned by leaders and adults, lead yourself and those around you. When somebody says something you don’t agree with, don’t attack them. Ask them. Have a conversation. Learn about each other. Be more inclined to bring each other up rather than tear each other down. Because a world with us together, for our generation, the next generation and for the adults who handed it to us, is a world better off.”

Class President Ryan Silverstein
Class President Ryan Silverstein (Photo credit: Stephen Keep/SWKphoto)

 

Fittingly, musically inclined student speaker Lili Culhane followed with a talk that ended with her brief rendition of Everybody Wants to Rule the World. She wished classmates luck finding “the next song on your playlist.”

WHS Class of 2020
Lili Culhane song-speech (Photo credit: Stephen Keep/SWKphoto)

 

Up next was Principal Jamie Chisum, who praised the grads for their agility given circumstances of recent months.

“You’ve proven that you have the ability to adapt and be nimble in the face of great uncertainty,” he said.

“Our charge is to make of use the crash course in uncertainty we’ve all been on these last six months and use it do better for everyone,” Chisum said, referring to efforts to make the world an equitable place.

Principal Jamie Chisum
Principal Jamie Chisum (Photo credit Stephen Keep/SWKphoto)

 

Class Treasurer Jason Norris shared his reflections, lauding classmates who lost out on many senior traditions for making good use of their time to raise funds and supply resources to those in need, to support their families and local businesses.

English teacher Caroline Prinn delivered a speech peppered, appropriately enough, with literary references. She also referenced words of the day, like “essential.”

“As you prepare to transition into your next chapter, whatever that exciting adventure might be and whatever it might look like under these circumstances, I invite you to reflect on what you consider essential,” she said. “Perhaps this pandemic and the necessary isolation has actually given you the space to recognize what in your life is essential and what is just noise. Figure that out and don’t wast another minute with the rest. Summon all of your good energy and funnel it into your essential pursuits.” (See full text of Ms. Prinn’s faculty speech embedded below.)

Students in attendance were then recognized individually, and those not there were acknowledged, too.

tassel twist
Tassel twist (Photo credit: Stephen Keep/SWKphoto)

 

Class of 2020
(Photo credit: Stephen Keep/SWKphoto)

 

Class VP Pini returned to announced the gift of the Class of 2020 scholarship for future classes.

The ceremony wound up with senior awards. Arianna Baffa and Kate Waisel were named valedictorians, and Yasmine Jaffier-Williams and Ryan Silverstein earned senior cups for their all-around accomplishments.

 

Class of 2020
Viewers were online, not in the bleachers (Photo credit: Stephen Keep/SWKphoto)

 

Thank you to WHS’s Diane Zinck for coordinating our attendance, and for Stephen Keep, for upping our photo game. Just the sort of collaboration graduation speakers were encouraging!

 

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Wellesley High boys cross country continuity: Corkery named head coach

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Wellesley High School has named Colin Corkery as head coach of its boys cross country team, which consistently has been among the fastest in the state in recent years. The team won the state title in 2016.

Corkery, a retired middle school teacher, enters his fourth season with the Raiders. He has been an assistant to Tim Broe, the Olympic runner who has led the program since 2015, and helped to build a culture of hard work and fun in cross country and track. Broe will now put his full focus on training professional athletes.

Colin Corkery and Jason Norris, Class of 2020
Coach “Cork” with Jason Norris, WHS Class of 2020

 

The big question for Corkery, whose own athletic credentials include college running and a post-college national title in the 4×800, is whether the high school cross country season will even happen this fall in light of the pandemic and how Wellesley High handles its reopening.

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association has pushed the start of the fall season out to Sept. 14 at the earliest. All sorts of speculation has floated around about what cross country could look like this fall if competition takes place. Corkery likes for runners to get physical off the line, whether in cross country or track, though that might be harder to do in the new normal.

In the meantime, returning runners have been training. As Corkery says, “long distance runners don’t get fit in a week.”

He’s relying on captains Eddie Trenk, Chris Harding and Drew Donahue to lead the team. “They’ve all been running for years with the program, are dedicated and are putting in the hard work,” he says.

Cassie Short, who coached the girls’ team with Broe last year, returns to lead that always strong crew.

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The lowdown on Wellesley High School’s graduation ceremony

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Wellesley High SchoolWellesley High School’s graduation ceremony is now officially on for Friday, July 31 at 9am.

Below are the instructions for those will take part.

As noted, we’re going to take a shot at livestreaming the event to our Facebook page on Friday morning.

Dear WHS Seniors:

We are excited that together with local health and safety officials, school administrators and the class of 2020 officers, we have made plans to celebrate the completion of your time in the Wellesley Public Schools on Friday, July 31st, at 9 am at Hunnewell Field. Please know for safety purposes, this is a different event than what we are normally able to do for our seniors. At its’ core, the event will honor the class of 2020’s desire to be together one last time in a meaningful way.  In order to have a successful day, we all must be mindful of the appropriate and necessary safety precautions that we have put in place.

These are the guidelines the class officers presented to the Town of Wellesley Board of health and all participants must respect these guidelines at all times.

  • We are sorry we cannot allow any guests at this event in order to maintain appropriate health precautions for seniors and involved WHS staff.  Even the addition of 2 guests per graduate would quickly swell our numbers from 400 to over 1000.  We ask that friends and family also not congregate outside the field since that would create the type of health risk we are looking to avoid by limiting the participants.  Wellesley Media and The Swellesley Report will be recording the event and will have it downloaded on their station and their website in HD as soon as possible. There will also be photographers on the field as well. We are thankful for the support from the community.
  • Any senior who feels sick or exhibits any COVID-related symptoms (e.g., fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, or new loss of taste or smell) or has potentially been exposed to someone with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 should not attend the event. Similarly, out of an abundance of caution, anyone who is especially vulnerable to COVID-19 due to underlying conditions should be discouraged from attending.
  • In adherence to state guidelines, the ceremony will be brief and therefore cannot include some of our traditions from past WHS graduations. As a result, we will have an abbreviated music program and will present the Teacher of the Year award at a later time.
  • No gum, food or beverages are allowed. Each student will have a bottle of water at their seat on the turf.
  • We will stagger arrivals by house.
    • Bradford 7:45 am
    • Perrin 8:00 am
    • Phillips 8:15 am
  • You will assemble on the sidewalk that goes around the school in alphabetical order with the assistance of WHS staff.
  • All attendees must wear a mask or face covering at all times: before, during and after the celebration.
  • All seniors should wear their red cap (with tassel) and gown. We do not have any extra caps, gowns or tassels.
  • Sharp and pointed heels are not allowed  because they will puncture the track and turf. There are no exceptions to this rule.
  • WHS staff members will be on hand to direct students to where they will assemble (socially distanced at six-foot intervals) for the procession onto the turf field.
  • After entering the field, students will be seated on the turf, spaced out across the entire field facing the visitors’ bleachers.  The WPS staff who are in attendance will be seated on the visitors’ side.
  • Students will retrieve their scroll from a table for a contactless interaction. No handshakes or other direct contact will occur.
  • Due to safety concerns, we discourage the tossing of caps at the end of the ceremony.
  • Seniors will be dismissed from the field by row by your class officers. It is essential that everyone follow direction to leave the field in an orderly fashion.
  • No cigars, vapes or other smoking devices are allowed on the field or other school property at any time before, during or after the event.

After the event, all students should exit the field and leave school grounds as efficiently and quickly as possible. Many thanks to the WHS staff and custodial crew for their efforts to provide closure to the Class of 2020 of their WPS career.

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Wellesley High School Class of 2020 car parade livestream video

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Wellesley Board of Health to reconsider Class of 2020 graduation plan; July 31 would be date

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WHS class of 2020(Update 7/28/20: Students have begun receiving messages from the school about the proposed ceremony so that WHS can plan on how many students to expect for what would be a 9am ceremony on July 31. The formal go-ahead still wouldn’t happen until Wednesday after the Board of Health meets.)

Following a flurry of discussion over the past week and extending into this week among students, parents, school administrators and other town officials, Wellesley High School’s Class of 2020 might have a graduation ceremony after all.

As we reported Sunday, members of the Class of 2020 urged the administration to reconsider its decision not to hold a ceremony due to COVID-19 concerns. The Class proposed a number of precautions and concessions they argued could allow such a ceremony to take place safely. While the Board of Health initially recommended against holding a ceremony based on health concerns, they began to rethink things based on these proposals, but did not make any formal recommendation. Wellesley High School Principal Jamie Chisum issued a memo on Friday, July 24, confirming that a ceremony would not happen, and that appeared to be that.

Now, as outlined in a jointly-issued memo below, the Board of Health will meet on Wednesday, July 29, to formally reconsider a plan for a July 31 graduation ceremony.

This would give the students a chance for a somewhat traditional celebration beyond the recent car parade, after which they picked up diplomas at the school one by one in a drive-by procession.

As other nearby schools held or readied for their own outdoor graduation ceremonies, Wellesley High’s Class of 2020 increasingly asked “Why not us?” Some had worked summer plans around July 31, the date originally floated as a possible ceremony date to replace the June 5 date slated for graduation before COVID-19 emerged.

Dear Families of the Class of 2020,

We were all disappointed when Wellesley Public Schools was unable to host a traditional graduation for the Class of 2020 on the first Friday of June.  The Town rallied together and hosted a graduation parade that, by all accounts, exceeded everyone’s expectations.  At the same time, we knew that our students were still interested in coming together as a class at some point in the summer to mark this important milestone with some sense of tradition and unity.  Likewise, we were clear that any event(s) planned would have to remain tentative, given the uncertain trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Class of 2020 officers worked with the High School administration on a possible plan for the last Friday of July.  In consultation with the central office, we agreed that for any plan to go forward, it had to be approved by the Wellesley Board of Health.  To that end, the WPS administration began by engaging the Director of the Health Department and then the full Board of Health (BOH).  At its meeting on July 15th, the BOH engaged in a thoughtful conversation about this draft plan.  It was clear that everyone participating in the meeting felt sympathetic to the Class of 2020 and the circumstances that have thus far defined their final year at WHS.  At the same time, the BOH weighed these interests against the broader, potential impact of a large event to the community at large.  The voted decision of the BOH at that time was to recommend not moving forward with the plan as presented.  The School Department agreed to abide by that recommendation.

Since its vote on July 15th, the BOH has continued to consider this request and additional modifications to the graduation plan.  It is important to note that no formal action has been taken or communicated by the BOH since its July 15th meeting.  Based on the totality of the new plan including changes to the safety protocols, the BOH will at its next meeting (on Wednesday, July 29) discuss and reconsider the revised plan for a graduation event for this Friday, July 31st.  If approved, it will be critical that all attendees abide by the specific plan presented to the BOH, which includes clear attention to social distancing, assigned seating, and wearing masks.  In addition, the event will only be open to the Class of 2020 and not to family, friends, and other students.  Upon approval by the Board of Health, the High School team will follow up with a message regarding the specific details that everyone will need to follow to make this event possible.

Sincerely,

Shepard Cohen, Chair, Wellesley Board of Health
Linda Chow, Chair, Wellesley School Committee
Lenny Izzo, Director, Wellesley Health Department
Dr. David Lussier, Superintendent, Wellesley Public Schools
Dr. Jamie Chisum, Principal, Wellesley High School

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Wellesley High Class of 2020 left wanting for outside graduation ceremony

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Wellesley High SchoolWellesley High School’s Class of 2020 was forced to forfeit many traditional activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but students and their families are still urging the town’s public school system to reconsider allowing an in-person graduation ceremony. They point to other nearby schools, including Natick High, that are proceeding with outdoor graduation ceremonies adhering to state guidelines.

Wellesley High students appreciated the town’s huge turnout for the Class of 2020 car parade, after which graduates got their degrees in a drive-by procession at the school.  But students collectively sent a letter to Supt. David Lussier urging the town to reconsider allowing a more formal traditional graduation ceremony as well that would include speeches, awards, etc.

Hopes that the July 31 ceremony might still happen—including for those who have worked summer plans around that date—were initially quashed during a School Committee meeting earlier this month following a Board of Health recommendation. Wellesley High School Principal Jamie Chisum then reconfirmed that in a memo issued on Friday, July 24.

Dear Families, 

I know this is a communication many of you have been waiting for a long time.  I am writing today to announce that out of an abundance of caution we have made the decision not to hold an in person graduation ceremony on July 31st as we had hoped.  We looked at a number of different scenarios, including going so far as trying to limit participation to just the graduates and a small group of school personnel.  Ultimately, we came to the conclusion that we couldn’t guarantee the safety of the event for the community and that had to be our top priority despite how disappointing this news is to receive. 

We will instead be producing a video production with the key components of that event to push out to you. In that video we will name the Teacher of the Year, the two senior cup winners, and it will include several speeches from staff and students. 

I want to say public thank you to the class of 2020 officers who have worked tirelessly on behalf of their classmates to try to find a way to make this work.  Their commitment exemplifies the character this class has shown during the entire pandemic.  

Please be safe and well. 

Sincerely, 

Dr. Chisum

This video consolation prize isn’t enough for those who want an in-person event. Parents responded to Dr. Chisum’s message on Friday requesting more explanation and possible reconsideration.

More than a week earlier, after hearing of the Board of Health recommendation that an in-person graduation ceremony not be held, Class of 2020 officers quickly drafted a letter. They scrambled to get dozens of student signatures, and fired off the letter to the school administration, outlining proposed safety measures that go beyond those recommended by the state.

Dear Dr. David Lussier:

WE ARE THE CLASS OF 2020. We are the seniors of Wellesley High School. We are WHS athletes, musicians, performers, mathematicians, writers, students. We are future college students and employees. 

We understand that the Board of Health has made the recommendation to forgo our planned graduation ceremony, but we hope that you will see it as just that — a recommendation. The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education explicitly laid out guidelines for graduation ceremonies on May 21, stating:

“High school graduations are an important ceremony in the lives of the graduate and their loved ones. High school graduation ceremonies should proceed with the following schedule and guidelines… Ceremonies held beginning July 19 may take place OUTSIDE under the following standards and assuming the public health data supports the continued opening of our state.”

Not only do MA State Guidelines specifically lay out the rules for both a safe and meaningful ceremony — they encourage it. These are recommendations approved by a governor and commonwealth whose decisions have led Massachusetts to “flatten the curve” to a point where we are now averaging fewer than 200 cases per day in a population of 6.8 million people. Our seven-day weighted average testing rate is 1.6 percent positive and still trending downward. While certain states in our nation continue to struggle with COVID-19, through our combined efforts, Massachusetts has become an example for our country. These graduation guidelines exist within that example.

The MA Board of Education knows how much gravity lies within a graduation ceremony and made tough decisions with guidance from health experts to make this possible. The Board understands the emotional toll that months of isolation to help stave off this grave infection have taken on high school seniors like us, who gave up our Senior spring, which we had looked forward to for so long, and who now are facing an extremely curtailed college experience in the fall.  Our proposed ceremony lies far within these guidelines (eleven days after the given window, no parents or guests allowed). 

We’ve listened to your concerns about congregations and the additional risks of mosquito-borne illnesses, and have the following additional solutions:

  • The ceremony will be moved to mid-morning, we propose 9:00 AM
  • All students will sign a pledge not to congregate post-graduation
  • Graduates will receive a seating map with their assigned seating
  • Students will arrive in staggered time frames
  • Students will be dismissed by row, alphabetically. Rows will not be able to leave until the previous row has exited the premises

These measures are in addition to those already proposed, including socially distanced seating six feet apart and face mask wearing at all times.  We also remind you that we are willing to have this ceremony without our parents present, which is beyond the state’s guidelines and those that many of our neighboring towns are undertaking.  

Our Class, since the darkest days of the lockdown, has used the hope to keep us going forward that once the state allowed for it in mid-summer, we could celebrate the completion of our time in the Wellesley Public Schools together, on one field, sitting as a class. We were blown away by the car parade — an event that invited all 28,000 members of the Wellesley community to line Washington Street during Phase 1 of MA reopening — but, out of all the things we sacrificed, the class never let up in our desire to celebrate together. We stayed home and stayed apart for the greater good of our community, state and country. We endured the loss of what was supposed to be the best year of our life. We struggled with our mental health but remained high with hope that we would one day have the ceremony we wished for.

In these trying times, we’ve sacrificed, we’ve stayed home, we’ve done our part. We ask for you, today, to side with the state guidelines. We ask you to reach within your heart and please side with us, your WHS Class of 2020.

Sincerely,

WHS Class of 2020

 

Students’ parents say they got confirmation from the Board of Health that on Friday, July 17 it approved of the amended ceremony plan proposed by students, then parents followed up with School Committee members. Word was that the school system was still not in favor of going ahead with a ceremony, and that was confirmed with Dr. Chisum’s July 24 letter.

I confirmed this with the School Committee on Saturday night.

But with a few more days left before July 31 hits, the Class of 2020 is hoping that might not be the final word.

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Letter to the editors: Wellesley Educators Association’s stance on reopening schools

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Wellesley Educators AssociationThe Swellesley Report received an email from Kyle Gekopi, president of the Wellesley Educators Association, regarding the upcoming school year.

Gekopi says that the Association is in agreement with Dr. Lussier and the administration’s recommendation to develop a workable hybrid model for the fall (see Wellesley School Committee meeting: schools will likely take on a hybrid model for fall 2020) However, the Association maintains that the best approach is to start school in a remote setting and transition to a hybrid model after appropriate staff training, safety, and needs assessments.

The following letter is to the members of the Wellesley Public Schools Community, on behalf of the Wellesley Educators Association:

Our job is inherently interpersonal, and we want to return to our buildings as soon as possible. Every conversation we explored started with in-person learning, either full-in or a hybrid model.

Our work analyzed every aspect of our practice under the various safety guidelines, faced with two persistent guiding principles: keep our practice developmentally appropriate, and balance the educational benefits of a specific in-person practice against the risk aversion of a remote alternative.

In most, but not all cases, we found ourselves to lack the data or experience to successfully answer the final question that students and educators are asking: is it safe to return to school?

In an effort to gather that data, the Association believes a phased-in approach best positions the community and educators to construct the safest school environment for the following reasons:

1) A remote start is sensitive to the broad, systemic health and safety concerns and emerging research of how the virus is spread and who is at-risk. Combined with educator testing and any necessary modifications to our facilities, we are confident the Wellesley Public Schools will be able to develop a safe environment that engages in mindful risk-management.

2) A remote start keeps our work and learning schedules consistent, and addresses the reality that fluid movement between hybrid and remote models is necessary to maintain the health of students and staff. The current (July 20) DESE guidance is to recommend that students and staff stay home at the first sign of any symptoms related to COVID-19. However, many of these symptoms are combined with seasonal change or other health conditions. Adding this broad symptomatic anxiety will make our school community more susceptible to illness, and it is our hope that further research will result in a responsible revision of self-monitoring practices, allowing the WPS Community to gradually return students to in-person instruction in a phased-in approach, starting with our most vulnerable and youngest learners.

3) A remote start allows educators to get to build initial relationships with students without wearing a mask. We know that facial feedback and learning new faces and voices is important for all levels and all students. Our first impressions must be our authentic selves as educators.

4) A remote start removes the immediate anxiety of policing students’ behaviors and hygiene in a live setting. In consultation with public health experts, a remote start provides educators time to learn behavior management strategies to support healthy hygienic practice in the school setting, especially for our youngest learners.

5) A remote start teaches both educators and the community best practices for the seasonal likelihood of an all-remote setting. A growing chorus of experts is predicting a difficult autumn and flu season, and starting remotely would develop firm behaviors and practices to serve as a foundation in the event of another full shutdown.

6) A remote start fully allows educators to personalize online learning needs, working with students and families by responding to the needs of diverse learners. As we identify learners and practices best served by in-person school supports, educators can work with their colleagues to implement necessary interventions for students who need it most, and at regular intervals.

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